Beginner’s Blogging

Hello dearest friends, I am assuming you are here because you are interested in starting a blog? First off, do it. It is an amazing hobby, and you learn a lot quickly. You should probably hop on it now, especially since I am about to make this a series! So, we can build our blogs up together, and answer questions along the way. Sounds pretty good to me, how about you?

I actually received an email the other day (and was embarrassingly excited about it, might I add) about the basics to get up and running, and decided to just document my journey through the unknown blogging world.

So, basics first! What are you planning on blogging about? This is the first thing you need to decide upon. In this crazy world, we call this a “Niche”. It is like the first day of school, you need to find the best seat for you, and stick to it. This will help you in the long run.

For this site, I used a self-hosted version of WordPress. Now, what does that all mean? Hold on and I will fully explain everything (as best as I can, but questions are always encouraged and accepted!).

Domain Names! This is what your site will be called, this is a step where you need to put in time and really think about the name. For myself, I knew this would be a personal blog where I discussed things I loved, so I simply chose my first and middle name. Depending on your topic, or the manner you want to present it in, this could be completely different. Now, I will say this, you can change it later…but it is not a fun job to do. Don’t forget…your domain is YOUR BRAND! If you choose to use something other than a name, do some research on that, and be careful what you choose!

Register that baby, make it yours! Once you register the name you have selected, it is like your child. Personally, I had the most experience with GoDaddy from another class, so this is the one that I selected. Here is the cool thing about this…I got my domain FO’ FREE & I host this sucker for ONE DOLLAR a month for an entire year…can we say yes? We can. In case you are worried about running into issues, they have 24/7 support, so whenever you need something, hit them up, they are waiting on you! Before I jump into all of the cool stuff, let us review…$12 dollars a year to host my blog…what are you waiting for? That is two drinks from Starbucks. You don’t need them anyway! These are the other options if you are not ready to commit for a year, give them a look!

Alright, so, we all good to go? Awesome! The first steps are pretty basic, and you are lead through the whole process, which is amazing. Especially for someone like me, who went in blind as a bat, haha. Next steps, getting you online, and getting some content going on.

Install your WordPress plugin. This is important, I mean…it is how you are hosting your website, essentially. All you have to do is search on the GoDaddy managing dashboard, which you will be on once you sign up for hosting. Your next step is just to press install!

Alright, time to start looking good my friends! Run over to www.whateveryounamedyoursite.com/wp-admin. This is your main dashboard where you will run all of your fun stuff. First things first, hop on over to Appearance>Themes, this is the quickest way to adjust how your site looks. There are a couple of free ones that you are able to use, and they are great. Don’t feel the need to run out and buy special themes just yet. Let’s get both feet on the ground first. Install one of those, cruise around your dashboard, and meet me back here!

Once you are familiar, and you are ready for a special theme, let’s talk about Genesis Framework. What is it? It is this super cool (professional I know, haha) way of hosting themes. Genesis is called a parent, and the themes you can use on it are called a child, which are basically skins. (I am trying to explain this simply, I hope it is working) I am a big fan of the themes Studiopress offers, but you can get themes to work with this framework from all over the internet, just gotta look!

Alright, that should get you started! Like I said, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I will help you to the best of my ability. While you’re here, sign up for my weekly newsletter! I may be giving you the secret code to my blogging resource library I am developing…so it is worth your time if you are a newbie too! That will feature my favorite themes, tricks, tips, stock photos, you know, all the fun stuff!